Russians rebel against Putin following decline of ruble
The notorious leader of the mercenary Wagner Group is believed to have been killed when a business jet crashed over Russia last night (Wednesday).
Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was known as “Putin’s Chef”, was presumed dead after a plane he was believed to be travelling in crashed and burst into flames.
The crash comes months after the warlord lead a failed coup against Russian President Vladimir Putin when because he was disassisfied with the Kremlin leadership over the Ukraine war.
The Embraer Legacy jet was travelling from Moscow to St Petersburg when it crashed near the village of Kuzhenkino in the Tver region – just 31 miles from Putin’s lavish palace at Valdai in northern Russia.
Extraordinary footage show the plane falling from the sky and the burning wreckage smoldering in a field. There were ten people on board, including three crew members.
READ MORE Wagner plot revenge for Prigozhin death with promise to ‘take the Kremlin’
“According to preliminary information, all those on board died,” the Russian emergency services ministry wrote on Telegram soon after the news broke. Prigozhin, 62, was among the people listed to be on board the aircraft, Russian authorities confirmed.
US President Joe Biden last night commented on the plane crash, saying that he is “not surprised” by reports.
“I don’t know for fact what happened, but I am not surprised,” Mr Biden said.
“There’s not much that happens in Russia that Putin is not behind, but I don’t know enough to know the answer.”
A prominent MP last night said Putin was “sending a very loud message” after claims that Russia shot down the private jet, .
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Alicia Kearns, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee: “The speed at which the Russian government has confirmed Yevgeny Prigozhin was on a plane that crashed on a flight from Moscow to St Petersburg should tell us everything we need to know.
“Reports Russian Air Defence shot down the plane suggests Putin is sending a very loud message. A number of us expected that Prigozhin would end up dead, Putin couldn’t let him live after his march on Moscow.
“But this story isn’t over yet, how will those loyal to Prigozhin respond? Has Putin spent the last couple of months shoring up control of Prigozhin’s assets?”
As the news about the crash was breaking, Putin spoke at an event commemorating the Battle of Kursk, hailing the heroes of Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine.
Prigozhin’s fate has been the subject of intense speculation ever since he mounted a short-lived mutiny against Russia’s military leadership in late June.
The Kremlin said the founder of the Wagner private military company, which fought alongside Russia’s regular army in Ukraine, would be exiled to Belarus.
The Wagner chief had been keeping a low public profile ever since but he had appeared in a video earlier this week in which he claimed to have said to have been in an unspecified location in Africa.
He had previously been photographed on the sidelines of a summit in St Petersburg hosted by President Putin for African leaders in his first sighting since his failed mutiny. Before that, websites linked to Wagner posted grainy footage that appeared to show Prigozhin in Belarus with his fighters.
Prigozhin had repeatedly been an outspoken critic – both of the Russian President and his head of defence minister Sergei Shoigu.
He attacked their handling of the war and said the latter was a coward who did not send his soldiers the weapons they needed to defeat the Ukrainian forces.
After his failed armed revolt, aimed at toppling Putin’s defence minister Shoigu, ended in failure, his future remained uncertain.
Prigozhin’s reputation for using torture, even reportedly killing enemies with a sledgehammer, long made him a man few wanted as an enemy.
The private army, which has previously fought in Libya, Syria, the Central African Republic and Mali, styles itself as the most battle-hardened mercenary group in the world.
Tobias Ellwod, Chair of the Defence Select Committee: “Of course we await details but this has all the hallmarks of retaliation for the immense humiliation Prigozhin inflicted on Putin in June.
“Prigozhin challenged both the President’s credibility and loyalty of the security forces. These are critical for the survival of any Russian leader. Once they are challenged then the President no longer looks infallible and potential successors start to plot.”
The crash is already under investigation by the Russian authorities.
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